John Howard's foreign aid package not enough

At the same time, our government has spectacularly failed to rebuke the US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton for his comments over the MDGs. Bolton has asked that the MDGs be known as“internationally-agreed” development goals to water down the obligations they define. There is no other reason for this than to reduce the United States international obligations to the third world. For this we give our tacit support.

Compare our prime minister’s response to that of a true international statesman, Tony Blair. Blair has warned that current rates of progress will leave a shortfall in child mortality of four million preventable deaths by 2015. He, along with Kofi Annan, has warned of the dangers of unilateralism in tackling world poverty. 

Australia shares the United States’ visceral fear of anything resembling a laudable goal. We dismiss Kyoto targets for pollution reduction. We now appear to be supporting Bolton’s stance that the MDGs be repealed. We are led by a man whose version of good global citizenship is withdrawing from vital environmental and social policy platforms. 

Let no one be fooled by last week’s showmanship. John Howard does not understand world poverty. His contribution is one designed to best serve his own government’s conservative policy. His view of alleviating world poverty as a mere aspiration means that, at best, it will remain a vain hope.